National Center Research

METRANS conducts research on sustainable freight transportation as part of NCST. Regular tenure track full-time faculty members and research faculty at the University of Southern California and California State University, Long Beach, are eligible to serve as Principal Investigators. Proposals may also include as Co-Principal Investigators research or non-tenure track USC and CSULB faculty.

METRANS issues requests-for-proposals (RFPs) to support its NCST research program. We follow a peer-reviewed proposal selection process in which each proposal is submitted to reviewers from universities, public agencies, and private firms. USC and CSULB faculty do not participate in the proposal review process. Selection for funding depends on a number of criteria, including relevance to the NCST mission, intellectual merit, and student support. All research is expected to result in publications in refereed journals.

The first METRANS NCST RFP was issued (in conjunction with the third METRANS Tier 1 UTC RFP) on March 24, 2015. Proposals were due on April 27, 2015. Projects were awarded.

The second METRANS NCST RFP was issued (in conjunction with the fourth METRANS Tier 1 UTC RFP) on March 11, 2016. Proposals were due on April 15, 2016. Projects were awarded.